In Quiet Night
by OneMaySmileAndSmile
Summary: Post Pegasus Project. Daniel finds evidence of an Ancient weapon still in Pegasus, prompting a joint mission with SG1, and McKay... has issues. McKay whump, McShep friendship, Teyla
1. Chapter 1

TITLE:In Quiet Night

TIME: Right after "Pegasus Project," probably AU from there

CATEGORY: Drama, Action, Hurt/Comfort

DISCLAIMER: They're not mine... they're... just not mine. :-(

* * *

"What would you do if the stars weren't there?" 

Sheppard almost laughed at that. It was the kind of question a psychologist asked when there were ten minutes left in the session and he was out of material. The Colonel had always been a bit disinclined to entertain gibberish.

He didn't laugh, though, just shrugged and leaned against the balcony rail. "I'd probably get contacts."

"I'm trying to be serious here," McKay said, oddly unaccusing.

"Then try harder."

McKay's eyes shut for a couple seconds, then reopened, like he was taking the world's longest blink, but there was still no frustration to be found in his countenance. He took a deep breath, then spoke again.

"I just wonder, if none of that was out there, what would there be for us?"

Sheppard eyed his friend with a cocked head.

"Have you been smoking peyote, McKay?"

That didn't draw the icy barb Sheppard was expecting, though. In fact, it didn't draw anything. Instead, McKay raked a hand through his short hair and stared into the dark expanse, deathly serious. It wasn't a look he wore well and Sheppard was more than a little unsettled by it, as he was by the peculiar accumulation of sweat on the man's forehead. The soldier decided to humor him.

"I don't know, Rodney. Maybe we'd just worry about things we could actually touch." He watched the scientist before continuing. "What would you do?"

McKay shook his head, concentrating hard, and as he answered, his voice was devoid of sarcasm and tension and all the things Sheppard was used to hearing any time the man opened his mouth. There was just a spooky calm that he could have blown tumbleweed through.

"I don't know. I wish I did," McKay said, softer than Sheppard had ever heard him. "I think it would be a very quiet night."

They were both silent after that, McKay ensconced in whatever had led him to say what he'd said and Sheppard trying to peg what the hell had happened to put his friend in this dark mood. He supposed something might have occurred during McKay's excursion on the Odyssey, but he'd given no previous indication that that was the case and Mitchell and Carter had been beaming that the day's mission was a total success. Perhaps he'd speak to them again, though, before they left.

He didn't get anything else out of McKay on the subject. After a couple minutes, the subdued man took a step back from the railing and smoothed down his shirt, then wiped the perspiration from his brow. When McKay spoke again, his voice had reverted back to the norm, glib and put-upon.

"Well, anyway, I have work to do."

Sheppard coughed into his hand, more to hide his discomfort than anything else. "Right, yeah."

As McKay turned to walk off, his friend watched him go and suddenly wasn't willing to let the moment pass so easily.

"You know, Rodney, I'm pretty sure that whole black hole slash nuclear warhead thing entitles you to take the evening off."

McKay turned back, chin raised defensively. "Yes, well, _some_ of us do our jobs instead of punching out early."

"It's nine o'clock at night," Sheppard replied with a faint smile, gesturing to his watch.

The scientist didn't have a response to that, so he darted his eyes about for a few seconds, then turned and left without another word. When he was gone, Sheppard stared after him, sighing at the empty spot where McKay had stood.

"That was interesting."

He turned back to the rail and resumed his former posture, leaning down. When he looked up at the stars again, they seemed different this time, finite. He considered McKay's unusually abstract musings. What a waste of night it would be.

"Colonel Sheppard." Elizabeth's voice rang through his ear.

Sheppard tapped his headset. "Go ahead."

"Something's come up. I need you to assemble your team in the conference room in thirty minutes."

Her tone didn't offer him any clue as to the nature of the meeting, as it seldom did in such matters, so he cast a line.

"Is this 'the Wraith are on our doorstep' something's-come-up or 'we forgot Carson's birthday again' something's-come-up?"

He could tell she was smiling when she replied. "Somewhere in-between."

"Right," Sheppard drawled. "See you in a minute."

All his attempts to contact McKay via headset were fruitless over the course of the next few minutes and when Zelenka wasn't sure of his whereabouts, Sheppard settled for finding Teyla, who was leisurely working at an Athosian dessert whose name he couldn't recall. What he _did_ recall was that it tasted like stale cake. She seemed to quite enjoy it, though, and when he sat down across from her, her eyes were shut in an apparent effort to savor the taste.

"I've never seen anyone besides McKay get that much pleasure from a fork-full of food," he said.

Teyla opened her eyes and looked at him, but he didn't get the warm twitch of the lips that he was expecting. Instead, she was looking at him with the polite dispassion she reserved for when she was mad at someone, but had no desire to argue.

Oh boy, he thought.

"Hello, Colonel. Is there something I can do for you?" she asked placidly, setting her fork down on the table.

Sheppard was careful to make it sound like she had a choice, given her apparent discontent.

"Elizabeth's called a meeting in twenty minutes," he said, carefully selecting a grin from his catalogue. "Would love it if you'd stop by."

Teyla nodded. "Of course."

Sheppard clapped his hands together. "Great. Have you seen Rodney, by the way?"

At that, a flicker of darkness passed through her eyes, but it was gone in a moment's time and her demeanor was mild again.

"I passed him on his way to his quarters. He said it was..." She paused. "Too loud to work in his lab."

Sheppard stared at her, searching her expression. He was getting the distinct impression that she was trying to keep something from him, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Maybe she'd just noticed how "off" McKay was tonight too.

"All right," he said, slipping out of his chair. "Do me a favor and grab Ronan, would you?"

Teyla nodded her acceptance without hostility and for a moment, Sheppard thought maybe he'd imagined her dissatisfaction with him. Even if he hadn't, this wouldn't be his first dance – Teyla had been mad at him plenty of times and she always got over it.

He left the commissary and made his way through Atlantis' winding corridors until he arrived at McKay's quarters.

With a jocund knock that couldn't be mistaken, he called through the door. "Hey, Rodney, it's me."

A few seconds passed before he heard the bed inside creak and a few more passed before the door slid open to reveal McKay, looking more haggard than before. He looked utterly exhausted, and when Sheppard glanced past him, he could see that the laptop on the scientist's desk wasn't open. Apparently McKay had thought better of working.

"What is it you could possibly want at this _ungodly_ hour?" the man snapped.

Sheppard smiled disarmingly. "Ungodly hour? Before, it was too early to punch out and now it's ungodly? Make up your mind, McKay."

"You have ten seconds before I close the door."

"Now you're just being dramatic."

"10, 9..."

"You're doing an actual countdown?"

"7..."

"Elizabeth's called a little pow wow," the soldier finally said.

"What's going on?"

Sheppard shrugged before sparing a second to take in McKay's appearance. The sweat that had been less noticeable in the relative dark of the balcony looked much more pronounced in the harsh light coming from Rodney's quarters. His hair was just a bit damp and his eyes held a hint of chaos. More than usual, at least.

"You feeling all right, Rodney?" Sheppard asked.

"I'm fine," McKay grumbled, wiping his moist face with the back of his arm. "It's hot in here."

Sheppard stepped into his quarters uninvited, holding his arms out to denote that he was checking the temperature. Rodney rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Seems pretty cool in here to me, actually," Sheppard said.

"I wasn't aware you had a degree in meteorology."

"No, but having spent thirty-seven years experiencing various temperatures, I do know the difference between hot and cold."

"Thirty-eight," McKay corrected. Sheppard feigned confusion. "You're thirty-eight, not thirty-seven. Stop lying about that. What are you, a Dominican baseball player?"

For once, it was Sheppard who was too flustered to retort. McKay smiled in that self-congratulatory way he had, then gestured toward the door.

"Well. Shall we?"

* * *

When they arrived at the conference room, McKay was hit with a sense of deja vu. Elizabeth was seated at the head of the long table, joined by Sam, Daniel, Cameron, and Vala. Opposite them, Teyla and Ronan sat with what could only be called wary expressions.

McKay couldn't help but notice the casual contempt Cameron eyed him with and it seemed the mere sight of the acerbic man was enough to change Sam's neutral expression to one of exasperation. He had tried so hard to be pleasant in the last meeting they had here too. His head pounded as he watched them.

Sheppard slid into the chair beside Ronan, and McKay beside Teyla.

"Let me guess, you guys decided you'd miss Rodney too much and now you're putting in for transfers," Sheppard offered.

Sam smiled briefly, but it became more of a grimace as the thought sank in. Before she could speak, though, Daniel cut in, effervescing with excitement as he usually was when he had something to share.

"Not quite. Dr. Weir, may I?"

"By all means."

Daniel turned to address Sheppard's team, making eye contact with each of them in even intervals as he spoke.

"I came here for the names of the two planets in the Milky Way that might potentially be home to Merlin's weapon, but I thought it would be prudent to skim the Atlantis database while I was here."

"Just a little light reading before bed," Cameron added dryly.

McKay frowned behind tired eyes. "You 'skimmed' the database? In what, four hours?"

There wasn't any sardonic note to his words, just genuine confusion, but it drew him no dearth of annoyed glares.

Sheppard and Cameron spoke warningly in stereo. "McKay."

"It's a _question_!" the scientist groused, wiping his damp forehead again. "You could at least wait until I act like a jerk to get mad at me. If you're patient enough, it's bound to happen."

Sheppard's tight-lipped expression implied that a curt reply was to follow, but Daniel cut him off smoothly. "No, he's right. It was a shot in the dark at best, but I got very, very lucky."

"What did you find?" Teyla asked.

"I was reading about the Ancients' experiments into a weapon with very selective targeting capabilities, meant specifically for living things. The way Sam explained it to me, it sends out something similar to an EM pulse, except it's attuned to the electro-magnetic activity in _people_. It basically puts a stop to every function in the humanoid body..."

"Yes, yes. Listen, as much as I love a deplorable fairy tale, there's not much point to discussing this. The experiments ended at a very early stage. The Council didn't care for it," McKay interjected, running a hand through his slick hair. "And before you go asking me to pull up the schematics and spin straw into gold again..."

Vala spoke up with wide eyes, oblivious to the reference. "You can spin straw into gold?"

"Well... not in the _literal_ sense," the scientist replied, "But it's basically the same–"

Cameron shook his head impatiently. "McKay! We're not asking you to do anything."

Rodney seemed genuinely surprised at that, shrinking back in his seat in a blatant betrayal of his disappointment. "Oh... then..."

Sheppard swallowed a groan as he watched McKay lead the orderly briefing off-track, but his words were softer and less vexed this time when he chastised his friend, who looked a bit too sickly for his liking.

"Rodney, what do you say we save the praise-question-polish bit 'till Dr. Jackson's finished?"

McKay crossed his arms as a child might after being denied a precious toy, but there wasn't the usual bravado behind it and he said nothing further, and after Sheppard offered an expression of apology to SG-1 across the table, Elizabeth gestured for Daniel to continue. Teyla rested her hand on McKay's knee, giving it a gentle pat as the archaeologist resumed his briefing, and the scientist met her eyes with appreciation.

"According to the archives, the experiment was being conducted by two men – Janus and Bedwyuvius," Daniel said. "Of course, we're all well aware who Janus is, but it was the second name that struck me."

"Old college buddy?" Sheppard asked.

"_Arthur_'s old college buddy. Take out the 'wy' and you get the Latin, Beduvius. In English, it's Bedivere."

Teyla and Ronan cast subtle glances of confusion at McKay and Sheppard. Obviously, that wasn't a name they heard in bedtime stories here in the Pegasus. Sheppard glanced over at them in acknowledgment, then back at Daniel.

"As in, Sir Bedivere of the Round Table?" he asked carefully, not caring to admit that his own recollection of the man went only as far as a Noble Knights dinner theater in Las Vegas.

Daniel nodded in the affirmative, opening a thick, well-worn book with yellowing pages and sliding it across the table for the Atlantis team to look at.

"Sir Bedivere was considered by many to be Arthur's most loyal ally. That's an illustration of him as he commonly appears in Arthurian mythology. Once I found the name in the database, I went back and found a visual of Bedwyuvius."

He slid his chair back and pressed a key on a laptop. The view screen behind him came to life with Bedwyuvius' archival image.

Teyla looked from the book to the view screen and back again before turning to Daniel. "The resemblance is undeniable."

"I think there's a good chance he completed his work," Daniel said.

Ronan spoke now, skeptical. "And what makes you think that?"

"According to legend, Sir Bedivere, at King Arthur's request, returned Arthur's sword Excalibur to the depths of a lake after a great battle. I think they've got the details fuzzy, though. Merlin was the leader of the high council of Atlantis when Bedivere was working on his weapon, and I think the legend is actually a reference to Merlin's order that Bedivere destroy whatever existed of it."

McKay shook his head. "And what about that implies that he _didn't_ destroy it?"

"Because in the narrative, Arthur asked Sir Bedivere to return the sword to the lake several times and each time, Sir Bedivere attempted to conceal the fact that he didn't follow through," Daniel said, each word becoming more earnest. "I think his weapon was completed, and I think it's still on the planet where he built it here in Pegasus."

Sheppard tilted his head, impressed. "Nice."

McKay sighed, turning his eyes down to look at the table sulkily and watching a droplet of sweat fall onto the back of his hand.

"Does this mean I won't be sleeping in tomorrow?"

* * *

Author Note: Hope you guys enjoyed. This is my first fic, so be tender. :) Feedback is like soul food, even constructive complaints, so please leave me a review! Hell, you can tell me to stop and not bother with the rest of this if you want! This was just exposition to set up the rest, so I tried to make it quick-paced, as you could probably tell from it being heavy in dialogue and short on description. Description and character introspection will be focused on more as we get going. 


	2. Chapter 2

Author note: I am very thankful for the positive response I got to the first chapter! I was sorry not to reply to you all individually, but "the real world" sure is a time-eater, isn't it? I try to get into McKay's head a little this chapter and balance irreverance and seriousness. Hope I do a decent job, and I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

McKay slid into his vest with some difficulty, thinly smiling at Teyla when she helped the cause. He wondered just how out of it he looked when she secured the clasps for him. Was that a friendly gesture or a maternal instinct? 

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

Well, that answered that.

"I feel like Gordie Howe in the late 70's," McKay replied, rubbing his sore neck. When Teyla stared at him blankly, reality dawned on him. "I need to start using more accessible analogies, don't I?"

Teyla nodded with a small smile. "That would be extremely helpful."

McKay chuckled, something he didn't do often, and the two teammates felt briefly content. Maybe this day wasn't going to be as bad as he thought. After all, an omnipresent headache, propensity to sweat, and mild inability to concentrate never killed anyone before, right? Unless you counted sociopaths, his late Uncle Todd, and motorists everywhere. Yeah, okay, this day was still going to suck.

He turned at a sudden click of boots on the Gate Room floor and watched as Vala sauntered up to the two of them, looking remarkably comfortable for someone who was a probationary colleague from another galaxy. She smiled sweetly in that disingenuous way a Siren had.

"Good morning," she said in a sing-song voice. "This is exciting, isn't it?"

McKay wasn't used to a strange woman being so friendly with him, so he sputtered in search of a reply for a few moments before he finally found one. "Yes... very. I'm... looking forward to working with you."

Vala's smile brightened. "Likewise. You do seem so much less boring than Colonel Carter. I'm afraid she's a bit of a..." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Downer."

McKay paused, not wanting to offer any words of disrespect about Sam, but finding he didn't have much incentive to defend her honor. Rodney, gorgeous woman trying to make small-talk with you, he thought. Sam could take one for the team.

"You know, I'm always trying to tell her to loosen up," he said, ignoring Teyla's raised eyebrow. "Me personally, I love a good time."

Vala leaned toward him a little, eyes sparkling. "And what _is_ your idea of a good time?"

McKay's eyebrows lifted toward his forehead and he searched his mind desperately for something that might impress her. "Well... I've always been partial to karaoke." He paused. "If properly inebriated, at least."

When he looked at Vala's knit brows, he quickly amended himself. "And, uh, you know, other things."

Her expression seemed to indicate that she liked the second response, probably because it was rife with opportunities to make him uncomfortable, but before she could reply, Daniel swept in and gently took hold of her arm.

"Leave the good doctor be, Vala," he chided, leading her away, much to McKay's simultaneous relief and chagrin.

She glanced back with a smile and the scientist waved dumbly to her, staring on after her as she began to converse with Daniel. After a moment, Teyla stepped to his side and quietly cleared her throat. McKay snapped out of his reverie and turned to look at her, eyes widening defensively when he saw her amused expression.

"What?" he squeaked. "I was mingling."

Teyla didn't say anything.

"It – it's important," he stuttered, "that we – you know – teamwork – oh, just leave me alone!"

Sheppard and Ronan strode into the Gate Room leisurely, or as leisurely as you could holding a P-90, and joined McKay and Teyla, neither of the men looking terribly concerned about the impending mission. But that wasn't really an accurate litmus test for danger, Rodney thought, because they didn't react to much of anything.

"Mornin'," Sheppard greeted, fixing his half-rolled jacket cuff. "How'd ya guys sleep?"

"I slept well," Teyla said.

"How 'bout you, Rodney?"

McKay stifled a yawn at the reminder of his fatigue. "Oh, I slept like a baby," he said. "One with colic."

Sheppard smirked. "Great, maybe you're all whined out."

"Yeah, that's funny."

"Thanks, I thought it was pretty good."

McKay turned away and closed his eyes, breathing out as a brief wave of dizziness passed through him. He could feel their eyes on him for a few moments, but no one said anything and he was grateful. They began conversing amongst themselves after that. He couldn't help but notice the way Teyla's answers were short and too polite to actually be polite whenever Sheppard asked her something. It made him smile.

Across the room, Daniel was nonchalantly shrugging off Vala's flirtation, but McKay couldn't tell if it really bothered him or not. The scientist couldn't remember a time when someone was that infatuated with _him_... probably some chaste stranger who saw him through the nursery window when he was a newborn.

He didn't notice when Sheppard stepped up beside him.

"She'd eat you alive, McKay," the Colonel said. "I know her type."

McKay couldn't resist the bait as he looked back at Vala. "And what's that?"

"She's a bad girl. She wants sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. You can't pull that off."

"What, and you're John 'Cougar' Sheppard?"

"I have a leather jacket and cool hair. That's half the battle."

McKay looked at him doubtfully. "What's the other half?"

Sheppard never answered, the two friends distracted by the arrival of Cameron and Sam, who were laughing about something or other to themselves in a profoundly obnoxious way... to McKay's ears, at least. As they strode up to join the Atlantians, he wondered suddenly if Sam felt anything at all for him, even platonic affection. He decided she didn't as he wiped his face.

"All right, boys and girls," Cameron said, tapping his hand cheerfully against his P-90. "What do you say we go find ourselves a ray-gun?" He looked pointedly at Sheppard. "Minus any space vampires if you guys can help it."

"And here I thought you wanted the full Pegasus experience," Sheppard replied, gesturing to Elizabeth in the Control Room, where the young technician began to dial the gate.

"I'd settle for a Hard Rock Atlantis shirt."

Sheppard offered a wry smile. "The day is young."

McKay watched the exchange uncomfortably and Teyla couldn't help but notice how pale he was in the light of the engaging wormhole. She'd nearly mentioned something to Beckett, but knew how well that would have gone over with the ailing scientist. Instead, Teyla resolved to watch over him.

The octet turned toward the glimmering gate as Elizabeth's voice rang out over the speaker. "You have a go, Colonel. Good luck."

* * *

Cameron came to a halt a few feet from the gate after he passed through. He took in his surroundings with open consternation, shaking his head as he looked into the distance. 

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," he groaned. At Sam's quizzical expression, he continued. "I get all psyched up about going to an alien planet in another galaxy and all I find is _more trees_."

Teyla frowned. "You dislike trees?"

"I like them fine. I just wish we could have one planet that didn't look like the Rainforest Cafe."

That only served to confuse Teyla more, but she said nothing further, nodding as if she understood before dropping back beside McKay, who was studying his scanner intently with strained, narrowed eyes. She noted the mild tremor in his hand, but said nothing.

Vala looked up at the sky, a darker blue than she was accustomed to, and she was surprised to see that the sun had already begun its descent.

"Little early for a sunset, isn't it?" she asked.

Sam nodded. "According to the read-out from the MALP, the light only lasts for about four hours on this planet."

McKay looked up from his scanner momentarily. "Four point two hours." Sam rolled her eyes distastefully, glancing at Cameron. It didn't go unnoticed by the scientist. "_I'm sorry_, I didn't realize this was first grade math class," he sniped, glowering. "I'll be sure to round to the nearest integer next time."

"Be sure to do it in your head and not out-loud too."

Sheppard tuned them out, scanning the area with a sharp gaze for potential threats, but all was quiet in the immediate vicinity, save the gentle calls of docile indigenous animals. It was quite tranquil, actually. A few feet to his left, though, Daniel regarded the forest sourly, eyes focused on some far-off point that blended into the horizon.

"Something wrong, Dr. Jackson?" Sheppard asked.

Daniel crinkled his forehead, then slowly shook his head. There was something amiss here. That much he knew for certain, but he knew also that he had no basis to make that claim. It was so peaceful just then that he almost couldn't imagine the calm ever being shattered. He'd learned time and again in his life, though, that the universe inflicted its most despicable acts upon its greatest miracles.

"No," he replied finally, sighing tiredly. "Not yet, at least."

Sheppard searched the man's face and met his eyes for a mere instant, but it was all he needed, for he'd visited those same unspeakable places that haunted the archaeologist. He nodded his understanding.

"Well, you just let us know when that feeling evolves," the soldier said, turning his attention to McKay. "Got anything, Rodney?"

McKay inclined his head in the affirmative, then looked up from his scanner and pointed westward, swaying just a bit with the motion.

"That way about six miles."

Sheppard seemed satisfied at that, though he gave the scientist a subtle once-over, and moved to the head of the group.

"All right, let's try to use what we have left of the daylight as best we can. I'm not relishing trouncing around in the dark here," he said. "Ronan, you get our six. I'll take point."

With that, he turned and made his way down the small slope just beyond the DHD and both teams followed. Cameron gravitated toward to the front, walking alongside the Atlantis leader, while Teyla guided McKay toward the middle of the pack with Daniel and Vala, and Sam and Ronan brought up the rear.

The runner had yet to utter a single word, but he'd been actively observing the interplay between the two teams and he wasn't sure what at all to make of it, only that he had no desire to add his own voice to the vapid blathering.

Some time later, Cameron glanced over at John. "Interesting group you got here, Sheppard."

"Thanks, I like em' all right."

"Bob Marley back there doesn't say a whole lot, does he?" Cameron asked, gesturing to Ronan way back, out of sight at the moment.

Sheppard shrugged, smiling coolly. "When he has something to say, you'll know."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Cameron replied, letting out an amused breath as he looked back behind them again, this time at Teyla, who had a loose grip on McKay's elbow as they walked. It was strange to his eyes to see her give the scientist the time of day, much less to lay a protective hand on his arm. "They seem to get along well."

Sheppard glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to the stretch of forest ahead. "Teyla is..." His mouth turned up. "A very patient woman."

Cameron smiled. "Hmm."

Neither man said anything for a while, but the silence was companionable. Some ways behind them, McKay was uncharacteristically quiet as well, focusing on the act of walking alone, which was becoming a minor difficulty the further they went, his head swimming, face and neck damp. He didn't comment on it, though, and if the soft hold the Athosian had on him was any indication, it would have been redundant to anyway.

Daniel looked up above, watching the last remnants of sun shoot through the dark trees like a dying man's last words. Something about it seemed almost desperate. He gloomed, tightening his grip on his gun on as he walked.

Vala watched him disapprovingly. "Daniel, you need to calm down."

"Something's not right here."

"Don't get yourself worked up," she said blithely. "I can barely hear a thing for miles."

Daniel turned, his eyes grave. "That's what concerns me. The darker it gets, the quieter it gets. Why is that?"

Vala could see how serious he was and she had to admit that he had a point. She hadn't seen anything move in some time and the soothing sounds of nature that had been prevalent when they arrived were fading with each minute, replaced by an unnerving deadness.

"If you're trying to scare me, it's working," she said. "And I feel rather naked without a weapon, you know. We're going to have to talk about your trust issues."

Daniel reached down and extracted his Beretta from his leg holster, handing it to her wordlessly, as if the exchange was routine. Vala took it awkwardly, shocked by the sudden display of faith. She turned it over in her hands.

He reached over and clicked off the safety. "Just point and shoot. And don't make me regret giving you that."

A slow smile spread over Vala's face as she pointed it in a direction harmless to the two teams, her finger sliding over the trigger, but never squeezing. What a precious little number this was.

"If this isn't love," she cooed, turning back to Daniel, "then I don't know what is."

In the rear of the group, Sam had been trying to engage Ronan in conversation with minimal success. It reminded her of how Teal'c was during SG-1's early missions, curt and laconic and disinterested, and maybe even a little frustrated to be bothered. She wasn't going to have time to form any sort of rapport with Ronan, though, so eventually, she gave up and accepted the solitude. Sam saw him relax when she did.

When the sun was finally gone, the teams were surrounded by silence, like a decrescendo that had reached its lowest point and was fixing to stay there. There were no birds' songs, no animals' cries, no insects' buzzing, only the voices of the eight explorers alone in the middle of the forest, deserted now in the darkness.

Sheppard came to a stop, turning to Cameron with a furrowed brow. "This is creepy. You ever heard anything this quiet?"

"Teal'c when I start telling Chris Rock jokes comes close," he said, pausing and glancing around at the still foliage. "But nothing quite like this."

Sheppard reached for his radio. "McKay, how much further?"

The scientist came to a stop beside Teyla a little ways back, reaching into a pouch for his scanner. He stared at it long and hard, trying to unblur his vision. It took a few seconds, but then the image became clear.

"Maybe two miles," he replied, a little breathless. "Something wrong?"

Sheppard felt a chill pulse through his bones as he looked up, hating the way the trees denied his eyes the sky, as if the stars weren't really up there. He gave Cameron a sidelong glance, then reached for his radio again.

"If there isn't, there will be."

* * *

Author note: Hope you enjoyed, and leave me a review! 


	3. Chapter 3

Author note: I hope you all enjoy this latest installment. Thanks for all the reviews you guys have been leaving me and for reading this at all. The horizontal bar's not working, so I'm gonna have to get creative here.

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McKay glanced at Teyla, eyes glazed with fever and something dark she couldn't identify, and as he pressed down on his radio, she knew the fear on his face was informed by something more than Sheppard's foreboding words. She wondered what had changed in him.

"Maybe we should stop for a minute, " he said, voice tightening. "Stick a little closer together."

Sheppard's response was a few seconds coming, and though laced with the same worry as his friend, there was an apparent finality to it as well.

"Negative. Just watch your ass and keep moving."

McKay exhaled slowly as the transmission cut off, pushing down the panic that was floating up through his chest. He was in no condition to react if anything went wrong and he knew Teyla's first inclination would be to protect him, not herself.

With a slight grit of the teeth, McKay secured his scanner in a pouch on his vest and started forward again, doing all he could to adopt a more grueling pace. Teyla fluidly matched his awkward gait, her hand returning to his elbow. His concerns were transparent, but she was content to let him believe otherwise.

Over the next few minutes, the only sounds that reached their ears were their own footsteps and those of their teammates in the near distance. McKay's eyes were so focused that Teyla worried he might falter in his steps if he gave her any of his attention. When it was the scientist who uttered something, she was surprised.

"What were your parents like?" he asked.

That was the last thing she would have expected him to say. She and McKay had always gotten on quite well – in fact, she was the only person he'd never been snippy with more than once or twice – but it wasn't often that they exchanged any kind of personal information. The fact that the question was posed was unusual enough, but given the circumstances, it was even stranger.

Teyla continued scanning the area, but she looked thoughtful too.

"They were very proud," she said, eyes bright with memory. "My father was a great man, though sometimes abrupt in his words or decisions, untrusting of strange things. He expected much of me, but was always forthcoming with assurance and reward."

McKay's expression was distant as he plopped one foot in front of the other. "What about your mother?"

She smiled softly, her mind's eye conjuring up something wonderful. "She was his other half. She was calm and kind and slow to judgment, very trusting. I was young when she passed, but I have always carried her with me."

The scientist's pace had slowed again. Teyla wasn't sure if it was because he was focusing on what she was saying more than he was on walking or if he was just wasn't capable of keeping that speed up. She thought maybe it was the former when she looked in his eyes, which shone with remembrance.

"They sound nice," McKay said quietly. "I think you got the best from both of them."

Teyla smiled warmly at that, her guiding grip tightening for a moment, a gesture of thanks she hoped he understood. She was curious about the expression on his face, so she questioned him tentatively.

"May I ask what occupies your thoughts?"

She could feel him stiffen and began to regret asking, but slowly, his body relaxed as he continued forward gracelessly, staring at his boots like a child would stare at a ball when dribbling. When he finally answered her, his tone was conversational, detached. The only strain in his voice was physical.

"My parents never liked the way I always wanted their attention, or the way I was always afraid of things. I wondered if they hated me," he said. "My dad always used to say, 'I can't wait until you finally get into a fight. It's gonna make a man out of you.'"

The scientist didn't say anything for a few seconds, and Teyla wondered if he was going to continue. He did. "One day when I was ten, I came home and I told him about these kids who said they were going to beat me up the next day. He said, 'Good, it's gonna make a man out of you.'"

"What happened?" Teyla asked kindly.

"I was scared, so I went in and I told my teacher about it, and she didn't let them touch me," he said with a tiny note of self-disgust. "I was scared all day about how my dad would react. I went home that night, totally terrified, and he asked me what happened. I told him they didn't do anything." McKay lifted his head and looked at Teyla, smiling sadly. "And he said, 'That's good.'"

The scientist looked away again, lazily wiping the sweat from his face. Teyla couldn't think of a suitable reply to that, something so intimate from Rodney McKay, so she didn't say anything, but led her friend forward.

Without their voices to fill the void, the darkness settled back in and the pair's urgency resurfaced. Somehow, McKay forced himself to walk faster again, as his stomach twisted with a million things. He should never have come on this mission. That was becoming painfully clear.

Somewhere back behind them, Daniel and Vala had picked up their pace as well. The smarmy banter that was their staple had evaporated. Conversation had been at a minimum since they'd heard Sheppard and McKay talking over the radio. Daniel wondered idly if he'd ever seen her adopt such a serious demeanor.

He decided to say something. He didn't really have anything _to_ say, but it seemed she needed to hear something, anything.

"The Oglonians on PSX-921 had a myth of creation that said when the universe was born, there was no sun and no sound."

Vala looked over, surprised at his obvious effort to break the silence. She appreciated it too much to question it, though. "Oh? That doesn't sound like much fun."

Daniel's eyes continued their calm appraisal of the forest, P-90 at the ready, as he continued. "The people were sad and afraid. They built huts with thick walls and then they never left them. The Creator looked down and it made him melancholy to see his children cowering."

"So what happened?" Vala asked.

"One morning, the people awoke to the sound of birds singing outside their huts. It was unlike anything they'd ever experienced, and at first they were afraid. But finally one brave man ventured outside. The sky was bright and blue, and the bird, who he'd been afraid of when it was cast in darkness, looked and sounded so beautiful, he broke down and cried."

Vala looked at Daniel, studying him discriminatingly before finally offering a slight twitch of the lips. "That was lovely," she said, pausing. "And you made the whole thing up, didn't you?"

He nodded casually. "Start to finish."

Vala watched him a moment more, then turned away with a shrug and a small smile, thinking she knew him better than he would ever care to admit. "Well... it was a good story anyway."

The minutes passed painfully slowly as Sheppard and Cameron moved, the time filled with meaningless, superficial chatter about one another's respective lives that neither man was paying any attention to. They'd nod in the right places, give an "mm-hmm," but Sheppard was too busy willing his eyes to pierce through the canopy above and find some sign that Pegasus was still out there, and Cameron seemed to be waiting intently for some phantom target to present itself. Mitchell was undoubtedly on guard, but he looked very much at ease at the same time, like this was pleasurable, and the Atlantian envied him that.

"Sheppard."

John lowered his gaze from the floral ceiling to a tiny clearing ahead of them, where there resided what looked to his eyes to be a small shack of some sort, barely free from overgrowth. It was curious _why_ the gray structure, rusted brown to resemble dry blood, was yet unencumbered by trees.

Cameron seemed to sense the question. "Probably used to be a massive clearing here, but it's been ten thousand years. Shit happens." As the pair walked ahead cautiously, he continued, "I can't imagine that's what we came here for, though. You couldn't fit six lawnmowers in that shed."

Sheppard shook his head. "It looks like a facade. Leads underground, I imagine." He reached for his radio. "McKay, we've got something here."

The scientist's quiet, drawn voice crackled back. "You're right on top of the energy signature. What is it?"

As the soldier ventured closer to the diminutive structure, he could make out what looked to be a sliding door, not at all unlike those familiar to him in Atlantis, and a small hand scanner attached to the wall beside it

"This is definitely Ancient," Sheppard said, pausing for McKay to comment that he wasn't an expert on such matters. When no such remark came, he continued. "It's small, though. Maybe sixty feet the whole way around."

"I'll be there in a minute," the Canadian replied. "Don't touch anything until I get there."

"Scout's honor."

When the radio cut out, Sheppard turned to find Cameron standing no more than six inches from the structure, running a flat palm along the corroded surface of the sliding door, like a treasure hunter looking for a secret lever.

"That's a fast-track to a tetanus shot, you know," Sheppard said.

Cameron craned his head back with a lopsided smile before turning back to the door. Despite some obvious signs of aging, the modest edifice had held up remarkably well and the scanner beside the door looked functional. That seemed a bit strange to him, given that ten thousand years of climate and creatures had presumably passed since its last use.

The scanner blinked red. Cameron examined it for a moment, then looked at Sheppard. "I think I saw one of these at a Holiday Inn."

Sheppard smiled. "It's a hand scanner. You need the ATA gene to open that."

"Well, you've got it, don't you?"

"Yeah. What I don't have is a desire to be chewed out by Rodney when he sees I didn't wait for him."

Cameron regarded him innocently. "Tell him you slipped."

McKay and Teyla could make out the two leaders in the distance now, tiny specks whose speech they could hear as vague murmurs on account of the hush all around them. It was a wonderful sight for the scientist, who felt as enervated as he could ever recall.

Maybe I could play this up for sympathy, he thought casually, watching his feet hit the dirt over and over. Maybe Sam had some secret inclination toward Florence Nightingale Syndrome that his disheveled state and boyish languor could bring out of her. Or else she'd just be repulsed by him on an additional level. Yeah, wonder which way _that_ will go, he thought.

The past day or so seemed surreal. His experience on the Odyssey had been stressful – what, with the nuclear experiment and the constant threat of citrus from his rather unprofessional colleagues – and the correspondence of condolence he'd received from Earth had stolen the color from his face and refused to give it back. He wondered if what he felt was guilt or loathing or both.

"Rodney."

Teyla's voice tugged him out of his contemplation, pensive and concerned. He met her gaze laggardly.

"What is it?"

"Listen," she said.

The forest, which had for some time previous fallen mute, had given birth to a new sound, a series of hundreds of distinct but similar clicks, like an amalgamation of beetles or bats almost, merging in the air all around them from all sides. They seemed far away at first, and if not for McKay's expression of comprehension, Teyla might have thought she imagined it.

She pressed her radio. "Colonel Sheppard."

"I hear it, Teyla. What is that?" the soldier replied crisply.

McKay's breathing sped up as he listened. The sounds didn't seem so distant as the seconds passed. In fact, they were steadily drawing nearer, thumping in the back of his head like a drummer keeping a sinister beat, resonating through his entire body. This was going to turn out very, very badly.

"We've gotta go," he said quickly, not speaking to anyone in particular. "Gotta go. We have to go now."

Click. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . click. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . click.

Teyla turned to him expectantly, but he didn't have anything more for her. He merely stared back at her with a fear more palpable than she'd yet seen from McKay, a man who'd shown her a great deal of it these past couple years.

Sheppard's voice came over the radio again. "Teyla, get up here. Ronan, Jackson, what's your status?"

Click. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . click. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . click. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . click.

McKay didn't move a muscle, like he had roots beneath his soles that penetrated deep into the ground. Teyla grabbed his arm, tugging on it unsuccessfully, noting in the back of her mind that Ronan and Daniel weren't responding to Sheppard's radio call.

"Rodney!"

Click. . . . . . . . . . . click. . . . . . . . . . . click. . . . . . . . . . . click.

McKay snapped to attention when Teyla shook him, much harder than she would have liked given his infirmity. She grabbed hold of his arm and tugged again, and this time he stumbled after her, doing all he could to stay on his feet as she calmly delivered worthless words of encouragement over her shoulder.

But the sound of what was all around him weaved itself around his spine and made a home there, reverberating in his skeleton like chatter from the dead. His skull pounded as he ran, baiting him to falter like a ruthless rival might have in his college days, or like his father might have that day in the rain so, so long ago. He ran.

Click. . . . . . click. . . . . . click. . . . . . click.

But he finally did fall, vaguely hearing Teyla cry out his name as he collided with the ground in a bone-rattling heap. Every inch of his body hurt at the moment, from head to heel, and as he rolled onto his back, those putrid noises replaced his inner monologue, stealing away his ability to form coherent thoughts. He tried with all he had to command his body, to steel his mind and rise from the ground, but the thoughts never came together, shooting off in random directions before fading into the netherworld.

Click... click... click... click.

Sheppard was screaming over the radio and Teyla was on the ground beside him, imploring him to move, but he couldn't do a thing expect lie there, fumbling helplessly to regain control of himself, to fight through his panic and his sickness and the pain that coursed through his veins as if from one of Beckett's IVs.

Teyla wasn't looking at him anymore. She was reaching around behind her to pick up her P-90.

Click click click click.

McKay looked up dreamily, his breath catching in his throat as he met a pair of cold, baneful eyes, red rubies sunken back into a misshaped skull, which protruded too far forward and too wide across, and sat atop a large, grimy black frame, hard in some places and soft in the others, every inch oozing with the promise of death.

That horrible noise permeated his essence.

Clickclickclickclick.

Something like a claw appeared from the darkness and sunk into the flesh of his arm, penetrating his jacket as if it had never been there. When the blood began to flow, so fast and so free, McKay's senses came back to him and he was thrust back into reality, crying out in sheer terror and torture as his lifeforce left him.

"Get it off me, get it off me!" he howled, his voice climbing and skipping octaves. "Teyla! Teyla!"

The creature pulled its claw away and cocked its head back, readying to feast, and McKay thought about all the things he was never going to get to do, the brilliant discoveries he'd never make, the things he'd never tell Jeannie and his nephews in his clandestine campaign to make amends. There were so many things no one would ever know, equations and feelings left to rot like his body.

He closed his eyes and wondered why, why, why, why.

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Author note: I liked the clicks a lot better when there were just spaces between them, but the document manager took them away, so I settled for periods. Ehhh, I donno. Thanks for reading, and leave me a review!


	4. Chapter 4

Author note: Thanks very much to all of you who took the time to leave me a review and for the encouraging words they contained. It's appreciated. I hope you all enjoy this installment. Horizontal bar still isn't working, so we have a redux of the dashes!

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The air erupted with gunfire as Teyla planted her heels in the dirt and unloaded a long stream of bullets into the malefic figure looming over McKay. Shot after shot found its mark, staggering the creature, but even after she'd emptied her entire magazine, it did not fall, its gnarled exterior absorbing the projectiles with minimal damage

All she'd done was get its attention, and when it turned and looked into her eyes, she saw a cruelty in its red depths that rivaled the Wraith's. She brought her hand up to her vest, searching the various compartments for another machine gun cartridge, but before she could locate one, she saw the creature wind back on its sinewy legs, preparing to spring forward. She abandoned her search and dropped her P-90 to the ground, reaching down in earnest to unholster her sidearm.

When she did, she gripped the pistol firmly and raised it to fire, but before she had the chance, the thing was upon her, casually slapping the weapon from her hands with one of its claws and sending her reeling back onto the ground beside McKay, who was still moaning in agony, crying out her name, motionless but for a few failed attempts to lift his head.

Teyla searched the ground frantically for her Beretta or for McKay's, but the scientist's was still holstered on his far leg, out of reach, and his P-90 was nowhere in sight. As the creature cocked its head back in a now familiar posture, she ran her hands up and down her vest and pants in desperation, looking for something, anything. Halfway down one leg, she felt a thin sheath. A knife.

As the brute's salivating mouth whipped toward her, full of dozens of spiky, enterprising teeth with ambitions for her flesh, Teyla brought her blade to bear and impaled the creature in a soft, tender spot on its torso. Immediately, it recoiled, letting out a series of higher-pitched clicks that betrayed pain for the first time.

The thing lurched back several feet, but it still didn't fall. With a low, guttural cry of wrath, the kind that followed you into the dreamworld, it sprang toward the fallen Atlantians again, and this time, Teyla's ingenuity had run dry. She set her jaw and waited, watching as it floated gracefully through the darkness, its bright, wicked eyes burning in her skull, its claws outstretched and ready to maim her.

But when it began its descent, the creature's body contorted, knocked off-course by a new volley of gunfire emanating from Sheppard and Cameron not far behind her. The thing went down this time, laid out on its side as Teyla rolled out of the way, giving the two leaders a clear line of fire. They continued shooting, taking slow, careful strides forward as they discharged their P-90's into the vile beast.

Teyla turned her back to everything as she slid over to McKay and covered the injured man's body with her own, feeling his pain like it was hers as he shuddered in the throes of shock, his grandiose growls of anguish reduced now to crazed whimpers.

Sheppard's and Cameron's tandem gunfire continued for several seconds before finally, blissfully ending. Teyla lay still overtop McKay's body after the shooting was over, her heart pounding in her chest, even as she heard those tormenting clicks fade from earshot on all sides, slowly receding back into the evening ether, as if they'd never been there at all. It wasn't long before the night was quiet once again.

Cameron blinked at the ravaged creature, whose bright eyes had dimmed maroon. He spoke after a beat with gentle exasperation.

"Well, that wasn't so bad. Only took, what, three magazines and a hunting knife?"

Sheppard might have replied, but a moment later, McKay's moan punched him in the gut and he turned quickly to find Teyla pressing against an open wound on the quaking scientist's bicep, blood seeping through the spaces between her fingers and running down the backs of her hands.

"Shit," Sheppard mumbled, squatting down opposite her. McKay's eyes were squeezed shut and everything coming out of his mouth was nonsense. "How bad is it?"

Teyla looked up sharply. "I have total confidence his bleeding can be stopped, but I have no yearning to do it here."

To Sheppard's eyes, it looked like McKay's head had just been submerged in water, sweat rolling from his hairline down a face that had stolen its pallor from a ghost. He imagined this might have been how the scientist looked when he came down off the Wraith enzyme, helpless and desperate and almost totally unaware, so transfixed by what he was enduring that he didn't even have the satisfaction of bemoaning it. Sheppard knew he should never have allowed McKay to come on this mission. Truth be told, a part of him hadn't trusted Carter to deal with whatever they might find. She was qualified, certainly, probably even more than McKay was, but she'd never been at Sheppard's side when the chips were down and his life was on the line. He'd put his comfort level before Rodney's health, he realized, and that was something that would fracture his sleep for a while to come.

Sheppard nodded to Teyla after a moment, twisting back toward Cameron. "We need to get him in inside. I'd rather not wait and see if Beetlejuice over there had any friends."

As Mitchell opened his mouth to agree, Sam's labored voice leapt up out of his vest pocket, garbled at first, but then clearing up. "... am... 's hap... Cam! Respond!"

Cameron grabbed his radio. "Right here, Sam."

She sounded winded, like she'd been running, and even though her relief was obvious, there was something like an accusation in her reply.

"What the hell is going on?"

"We experienced a few... technical difficulties," he said, glancing over at Rodney, who trembled violently, the hand at the end of his good arm held tightly in Sheppard's as he mumbled incoherently. "McKay's pretty banged up and it's definitely not safe in the great outdoors anymore, so the sooner you get here, the better."

"Understood. We're on our way."

Sheppard glanced over his shoulder. "What about Vala and Jackson?"

Cameron didn't have to answer, both men's eyes drawn toward a rustling not far off. Two distinctly human figures were coming their way, moving at a good clip, but still too distant to positively identify.

Not wanting to take any chances, Cameron reloaded his P-90 with a fresh cartridge, aiming it outward with one hand and pressing his radio with the other. "Jackson, that you?"

A faint, breathy "yeah" crackled back, like that was all the oxygen the speaker could spare, but it was good enough for Mitchell, who sighed and lowered his weapon again. This wasn't the nice, easy trip Daniel had promised him.

Not unlike the moment he'd taken the day before when the Odyssey had arrived in Atlantis, Cameron allowed himself a brief reprieve now, dipping his head and massaging just above his brow, thinking this place looked like a set piece from an M. Night Shyamalan film. After a couple seconds, he looked up again, spying the wasted creature out of the corner of his eye. His first inclination was to walk up and take a closer look, but television had taught him at an early age what happened to people who got curious. He admired it from a safe distance, thinking it was odd that one of the claws he'd seen extended before seemed to have retracted. It was curious too the way the eyes had changed their shade again. They'd brightened a bit since dulling when the creature fell.

Sheppard and Teyla carefully lifted McKay to a sitting position, the temporary dressing on the scientist's arm already red with blood. As the soldier hooked his hand underneath his friend's undamaged appendage to pull him up the rest of the way, McKay rolled his head to the right and looked up, his vacant eyes more lucid now.

"Hey," Sheppard said softly, smiling encouragingly. "You with us, Rodney?"

McKay's eyelids fluttered at first and John feared he might lose consciousness, but the man's flummoxed vision slowly came into focus, like an infant getting used to life outside the womb, and he managed to meet Sheppard's gaze. He felt cold, very cold, like he was back in Antarctica, and for a split second, he entertained the thought that he actually _was_, that the past two years had never been and that this was his first time meeting the man looking down at him.

"Shep'ar?" he slurred, body and voice quivering. "Happened?"

"We ran into one of your jilted exes. Lovely girl," the Colonel replied lightly. "Then you fainted."

McKay wasn't coherent enough to remember what had actually happened or to hear the teasing in his friend's voice, but he managed to correct him. "Passed out," he said shakily. "Ge'it right."

Sheppard smiled again, giving the scientist's head an affectionate pat. Even half-conscious, that man's pride was thick as oak. With a nod to Teyla, the soldier tightened his grip and the pair hoisted McKay up off the ground. The injured genius swayed tenuously, but his friends didn't let him fall.

For the first time, Sheppard took his eyes off McKay and looked Teyla over. He'd been so caught up in Rodney's condition that he'd missed the raw scrapes and scratches peppering her forearms and her frazzled demeanor.

"How are you doing?" he asked. "You okay?"

The Athosian inclined her head firmly. "I am fine."

Sheppard knew that was that. When Teyla indicated she was fine, she wasn't likely thereafter to enter into a discussion about the merits of the claim. He shared that failing, and it seemed he'd conceded as much with his eyes, for Teyla offered a brief but concrete smile.

As Daniel and Vala came into clear view, having slowed from brazen runs to weary jogs to what amounted now to exhausted ambling, Cameron pivoted back to address Sheppard. "Go on ahead. We'll catch up with you."

McKay drifted in and out of awareness. Speech was too daunting a task, but every so often, he latched onto an image or a sentence and tried to make sense of it before it was consigned to the cosmos, that library of all things. He could feel himself turning and moving forward, could make out Sheppard and Teyla on either side, but though they spoke to him, he knew not what they uttered, only that their remarks were directed at him and intended to be comforting. And they were. Even as he failed to make out what they were saying, the tone and pitch of their voices settled into the gaps in his skull, soothing the pain that rattled his head.

He could hear Cameron, Daniel, and Vala behind him. Their voices were more strained, less encouraging, and it took him a while to realize they were talking to each other and not to him. Why did Sheppard and Teyla keep shaking him? That was totally unnecessary, not to mention insensitive given his condition. He never considered that he might be shaking of his own volition.

What was that they were walking toward? He didn't recognize it. This didn't look like Atlantis. Oh, no, that's right. He was back in Antarctica. Wait, why was there lush greenery in Antarctica? Unless he was dead. But if he was dead, there was a disappointing dearth of virgins, bearded mentors, and soft light. And if he was dead, why was every part of his body numb or hurting? Unless... yeah, he _definitely_ should have gone to church more.

One of Teyla's remarks slipped through a fissure in his mind's fog. "Colonel, the building is extremely small."

"I only caught a glimpse of the inside, but there's a shaft leading down. An elevator or a transporter."

Teyla frowned. "You could not discern the difference?"

"Like I said, I caught a _glimpse_."

"But it appeared safe?"

"Well, Kolya and some Wraith were playing Pinochle, but besides that..." Sheppard said drolly, trailing off when she glared at him. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right, not in the mood."

McKay's mind drifted again and he lost track of his friends' exchange. He tried to focus instead on the building he'd heard them talking about, but it was dark and his vision was blurry, and after a few moments, he forgot what he was looking for anyway. SG-1's voices were faint now. Why were they whispering? He looked down at himself, watching his drunken movements, but failing to make the connection between their voices fading and the fact that he was walking away from them. Finally, resignedly, McKay stopped trying to think at all.

Back behind him, Cameron stood near the slain creature with Daniel and Vala, grimacing a little as his eyes trailed over its mid-section, pausing where Teyla's knife protruded from a fleshy inlet. It was curious how mutable the beast's exterior was. The black skin seemed to hug the blade like it had always been there.

Vala regarded the carcass impassively. "I don't imagine he had many suitors coming 'round."

Daniel's mouth threatened a smile, but it never quite got there. It seldom did these days. He crinkled his forehead.

"That sound was coming from every side. It wasn't all generated by him," Daniel said.

Cameron agreed. "This little guy's definitely got some inbred brothers. What I can't understand is why they skipped out when I killed him."

"I don't know. Maybe you spooked them."

"I doubt it. You can't spook a spooker."

Daniel minded him with a patronizing eyebrow. "You can't spook a spooker?"

"It's a saying."

"I'm sure it is," Daniel replied, ignoring Cameron's irritated expression.

Taking another step toward the creature, the archaeologist bent down and looked into the thing's eyes, brilliant pools that owed their splendor in equal parts to beauty and depravity. He leaned closer, gazing intently into the luminant, pernicious abyss, losing himself there.

"Why do its eyes keep getting brighter?" he asked.

Click.

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Author note: Hope you all liked it. I was concerned it might get slightly confusing at points, especially during McKay's stream-of-consciousness portion. Not sure I'm content on the whole, but eh. I'm currently shopping for a beta to just read through new chapters and tell me if they flow all right and make sense (i.e. no need to proof-read).

And lastly, there's a part of me that wants to get a little... um... evil?... with this story. I mean, it is after all AU after Pegasus Project, so why not treat these poor people like an executive from Sci-Fi would? Feel free to leave me an opinion on whether evilness would be embraced or not appreciated. I want you all to enjoy this, after all.


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